Teams Announced For Grand Prix Cycliste ProTour Québec-Montréal

Twenty-three teams will be racing at the inaugural Grand Prix Cycliste ProTour Québec-Montréal, the two ProTour races held on Québec soil, on September 10 and 12, 2010. These races will be the first-ever ProTour events to be held in North America.

The Teams. In addition to the 18 UCI ProTour teams confirmed for the two races, four other teams, BMC Pro Racing, Cervélo TestTeam, Bbox Bouygues Telecom and Cofidis, were chosen as wild-card entries. Reigning World Champion Cadel Evans (BMC) and France’s 2010 National Road Race Champion Thomas Voeckler (Bbox Bouygues Telecom) have confirmed that they will race in the events.

Rounding out the peloton will be a Canadian national team led by Steve Bauer, who has been appointed directeur sportif for the occasion. Bauer is the directeur sportif of the lone Canadian Continental team, SpiderTech powered by Planet Energy. (Speaking of Bauer, check out this hommage video).

Given the UCI rules, only ProTour and Pro Continental teams are eligible to race in a ProTour event, along with national teams. Which means that for Canadian pros on Continental teams, the only way to race in one or both of the events is to be named on the National Team. A race chance for Canadian riders to race in front of family, friends and long-time supporters, especially in such prestigious events, needless-to-say all want to participate. The selection of riders to the National team will be by the CCA in association with Steve Bauer.

The long list which includes newly crowned Canadian Road Champion Will Routley, was published today. Also, SpiderTech will be sponsoring the team for the events.

CCA Long list. The Canadian National Team powered by SpiderTech will be comprised of different riders for both events. The short-listed athletes will be made public closer to the events, in August.

Ryan Anderson (Kelly Benefit Strategies)

David Boily (U23) (SpiderTech p/b Planet Energy)

Eric Boily (SpiderTech p/b Planet Energy)

Guillaume Boivin (U23) (SpiderTech p/b Planet Energy)

Rob Britton (BISSELL)

Charles Dionne (Fly V Australia)

Martin Gilbert (SpiderTech p/b Planet Energy)

Keven Lacombe (SpiderTech p/b Planet Energy)

Bruno Langlois (SpiderTech p/b Planet Energy)

François Parisien (SpiderTech p/b Planet Energy)

Andrew Pinfold (UnitedHealthcare p/b Maxxis)

Andrew Randell (SpiderTech p/b Planet Energy)

Ryan Roth (SpiderTech p/b Planet Energy)

Will Routley (Jelly Belly p/b Kenda)

Derrick St. John (Garneau-Club Chaussures-Ogilvy Renault)

David Veilleux (Kelly Benefit Strategies)

Québec. The Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec will be run in the heart of the “Vieille Capitale”, a beautiful and hilly area. The circuit will be particularly well suited to climbers and those used to steep descents. Riders will complete 15 laps, and the hill climb to the finish line in Old Québec promises to be spectacular.

Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec

Each lap is 12.6 km with 186 m of climbing per lap for a total of 189km and 2790 meters of climbing. The four climbs, per lap, include the tough Côte de la Montagne with an average grade of 10% and nice kicker of 13%.

Montréal. An intimidating course, consisting of a demanding climb that forces an exceedingly difficult cadence, repeated several times—that’s what the the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal has in store for the planet’s cycling élite. The riders will tackle 16 laps of a 12.1 km loop for a total of 193.6 km.

the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal

Each lap includes three climbs, the 1.8km long Côte Camilien-Houde with an average grade of 8%, the Côte de la Polytechnique with a 200m section at 11% and l’Avenue Du Parc, the 560m climb to the finish line at 4%.

I was doing that circuit over Memorial day weekend (saw several KBS guys) and there are some REALLY bad sections of road. I recall last year for the women’s world cup a lot of people were complaining about the state of the road and was half expecting the roads to have been fixed, at least the worst parts. I hope Montreal puts down brand new asphalt for the Pro Tour guys.